Andrew Farran

Andrew Farran in his younger days was a diplomat, Commonwealth civil servant and law academic (Monash). His subsequent business interests included international trade, intellectual property and publishing, and wool growing. He was a regular contributor to Pearls & Irritations from 2017 – 2020.

Writes extensively on international affairs and defence, contributing previously to major newspapers (metropolitan and rural). Formerly director of major professional publishing company. Currently apart from writing he directs a registered charitable foundation with links in both Australia and overseas.

Andrew's recent articles

ANDREW FARRAN. Brexit: Crashing out a real possibility

The Brexiters deeply distrust the motives of the Remainers who are seeking ways and means of frustrating the process of withdrawal as exampled by the House of Lords actions recently requiring that the final draft agreement be submitted to Parliament for its approval and if not approved, that the government be directed to reopen negotiations. While Britains final destination is still unclear it might be said that this is no time for Britain and the EU to be still skirmishing over what are essentially domestic arrangements.

ANDREW FARRAN. Stalemate and Lawlessness over Syria.

On ABC News Radio (Monday 16th April) Paul Barrett, a former Deputy Secretary of DFAT and former Secretary of the Department of Defence was asked in an interview whether the military actions over the past weekend in Syria by the United States, the UK and France were legal in both international and domestic law. He replied that they were not legal. When asked if Australian forces had participated would that have been illegal as well? He again replied that it would have been illegal. When asked further whether if he was still in his previous position as Head of...

ANDREW FARRAN. Parliamentary inquiry on proposal for a Bipartisan Defence Agreement to govern future procurements.

Currently the Joint Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade is inquiring into the benefits and risks of a Bipartisan Australian Defence Agreement, as a basis of planning for, and funding of, Australian Defence capability. A comment on this reference by Richard Tanter, based on his submission to the Standing Committee, was posted in Pearls & Irritations on 14th March (Bad, bad BADA - aka Bipartisan Australian Defence Agreement). A further submission to the Committee, prepared by Andrew Farran, on behalf of Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR), was received by the Committee on 15th March and is...

ANDREW FARRAN. The Brexit withdrawal agreement for the transition tabled

The Brexit negotiators have produced a lengthy and complex draft agreement to provide for all procedural aspects of Britains withdrawal over the transitional period. It is concerned to preserve acquired individual rights and to enable the institutions (including judicial and law enforcement institutions) to operate effectively meanwhile. The substantive issue of Britains trade and community relationship with the Union after withdrawal still remains to be settled.

ANDREW FARRAN. The ASEAN Summit - lots of hyperbole and some successes

While the ASEAN summit was a public relations success it demonstrated to all that the only common factor in the group is that they belong to the one region. If tensions with China were to increase it might not last long as a group. With unresolved ethno-nationalist issues at play we cannot expect much change in relation to human rights or principled stances on sensitive diplomatic questions.

ANDREW FARRAN. Brexit: How to get it done!

According to a leaked Treasury document, which the Remainers claim was fiddled, the UK would be worse off in any alternative trading arrangement to the present - varying from two to eight percent of GDP over the next 15 years; and that none of the possible third country alternatives, including with the US and Australia, taken cumulatively, could be expected to make up for those reductions. What outcome might ameliorate these losses the most?

The hidden state behind the latest batch of repressive legislation

From the back-reaches of the hidden state has come this latest batch of suppressive legislation ostensibly to protect our secrets and to counter surreptitious foreign influences. Instead it will facilitate yet again the tendency of Australian governments to commit to overseas military adventures, sometimes illegally, without proper Parliamentary consideration and pubic approval.

ANDREW FARRAN. A hard or soft Brexit. More likely Black and White

Letter from London Britain finds itself trapped like a fish with no way out other than capitulation to the best terms it can get - in relation to which the remaining 27 EU members have the upper hand.

ANDREW FARRAN. India riding roughshod in commodities trade.

Indias decision on 21 December to slap overnight a 30% tariff increase on Australian imports of lentils and chick peas is just not what a stable, orderly trade system needs. But even so, do we need another discriminatory bilateral so-called free trade agreement with yet another country (India) when all these taken together are a recipe for future trade wars as occurred in the 1930s.

ANDREW FARRAN. The Iranian demonstrations.

There are few signs that the country is yet a tinder box for a counter-revolution requiring just a spark to set it off.

ANDREW FARRAN. An alternative perspective for a realistic defence policy for Australia

In defence terms how do we operate in a region where China will by 2030 have a GDP 25 times greater than ours and whose current military expenditure is already 25 times greater, when the US will be concentrating increasingly on issues of its own elsewhere?

ANDREW FARRAN. Eternal vigilance or eternal military deployments?

Prime Minister Turnbull recently visited the Philippines to attend regional economic and trade talks attended also by US President Trump. Given the presence of both, what do we know about their commitment of military assistance to their host, President Duterte of the Philippines, to contain insurgency in that country?

ANDREW FARRAN. Parliamentary eligibility did the High Court get it wrong? (Part 2)

Prime Minister Turnbull now asserts that the onus is on individual Parliamentarians to prove their non-dual citizenship status (a status that previously did not disqualify). How can the onus of proof be put on them when that determination may be in the hands of an external authority?

ANDREW FARRAN. Parliamentary eligibility - did the High Court get it wrong?

The response to the High Courts decision in the Parliamentarians eligibility case has been largely uncritical and disappointing. While Section 44 (i) of the Constitution allows for a simplistic literal interpretation the Courts failure to transpose that provision into the social and political context of the present day, and have better regard for its historical antecedents, will create more problems than it has solved and does not sit well with our multicultural and regional realities.

ANDREW FARRAN. Middle East World Cup - match schedule unravelling - a report.

The Middle East World Cup should be advancing towards the Finals but the match schedule is in disarray due to disqualifications and suspensions.

ANDREW FARRAN. Trump is being reckless with the Iranian nuclear deal

President Trump's decision this past weekend to de-certify the nuclear deal with Iran displays a recklessness almost on a par with his apparent readiness to vaporise North Korea with nuclear bombs. He is in error in citing non-nuclear aspects of the Iranian government as bearing on the agreement.

ANDREW FARRAN: Korea - could nuclear war come out of clear blue sky?

A decision about joining in the Korean conflict at any point could be the most critical war decision ever taken by Australia. Parliament should be allowed the time to take it. Whatever, the decision must not be taken by the Executive alone [Editorial in the Bulletin of Australians for War Powers Reform (Issue #55 of 27th Sept, 2017)]

ANDREW FARRAN. Not the time to deny natural justice to the Kurds.

Will the revived march of the Kurds for an independent homeland be the time when the Sykes-Picot agreement, which amidst the chaos of the First World War divided the Arab world between British and French inuence and control, becomes nally unstuck?

ANDREW FARRAN. After North Korea: breakdown of regional non-proliferation?

The existence of a nuclear threat is not sufficient reason to go nuclear; if it were [these Asian states] would have nuclear arms by now. In each case, the reliability of the US security commitment is the dominant variable.

ANDREW FARRAN. The Korean impasse: transformed geo-politics.

While in recent weeks North East Asia has been on the edge of a precipice, the likelihood is that the military stalemate will grind on indefinitely. A decisive act by any of the principal parties would lead all into negative territory. Only an unlikely unilateral move by Kim Jong-un to abandon his nuclear/missile ambitions would alter the equation.

ANDREW FARRAN. SAS Special Forces to the Philippines - Useful tactical move or first step on another escalator?

Reports that ISIS is relocating to the Philippines following defeats in Iraq and Syria have raised concerns about its possible spread elsewhere the region. The Australian government has offered support to the Philippines, but it should think more deeply before it slides into a conflict that develops into something it can't control

ANDREW FARRAN. We should discuss Pine Gap!

Whether the leaked documents from the US National Security Agency were revealing, as claimed by the ABCs Background Briefing on Sunday morning (http://ab.co/2vSXdhD), enough has been known about the Pine Gap facility long enough for some searching questions about its accountability to be well overdue.

ANDREW FARRAN. John Howard and the Coalition's views on war powers could lead to conflict in South China Sea

Recent comments by former Prime Minister John Howard is indicative of just how easily conflict situations can engage quickly and end badly in the hands of a strong Prime Minister who takes the Howard view that the Executive alone has an unchecked power to commit to war. As Howards view on the war powers is strongly held by the Turnbull Government his thinking on current conflict situations remains significant.

ANDREW FARRAN. Afghanistan in the wake of the Pakistan Prime Minister's dismissal

President Trump must decide soon whether the US should remain in a holding pattern in Afghanistan. As Trump has little personal skin in the war to this point he may decide that enough is enough leaving everyone to ponder what it was all about. Is the recent dismissal of the Pakistani Prime Minister a further complication?

ANDREW FARRAN. The Fall of Mosul and Raqqa opens the door for Australias exit from the Middle East

Now that ISIS has for all intents and purposes been driven out of Mosul and Raqqa the time has come for the Australian government to step back and review its diplomatic policies, and military commitments, in that region and focus back on the region of primary concern: East and Southeast Asia and the Southern Pacific. Whatever becomes of Trump himself there is little likelihood of the US reverting to the status quo ante as existing under the Bush and Obama administrations.

ANDREW FARRAN. Apparently all not well among our elite Forces

It appears that all is not well between and among our elite military forces, and between them and their hierarchies above, possibly right up to the government itself. After all it is the government that has committed these elites into battle situations leading to allegations of unlawful killings of civilians, in this case in Afghanistan (vide: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-11/killings-of-unarmed-afghans-by-australian-special-forces/8466642)

ANDREW FARRAN. Britain and Brexit: The Starting Pistol Fires!

No amount of political pressure from the EU would force Britain to accept a package it doesnt want, and vice versa. A closure without agreement because of the Article 50 deadline would be an own goal for all parties. Yet we may be seeing another replay of familiar European conflict themes, a century after these were intended to be put to bed.

ANDREW FARRAN. More troops to Afghanistan: at best a patch job; at worst perpetuating futility

Whereas economic globalisation might seem for a time to be on the wane, in the military sphere globalisation is on the rise. Regional alliances are being transformed into global alliances. ANZUS has been merged de facto into NATO, and where NATO is persuaded to go so shall we. Australia has been involved in Middle East conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria and is now under pressure to expand its Afghanistan commitment. We should be clear about the purpose and intended outcomes of such commitments.

ANDREW FARRAN. Stirring a Witchs Brew - Selling military equipment to Saudi Arabia.

Australia is busily involved in selling military equipment to Saudi Arabia which is engaged in the civil war in the Yemen whose features exceed in brutality and crimes against humanity those in Syria. Has the government clearly thought through where this might lead, and does the risk of adverse consequences outweigh a few commercial contracts regardless of where Australia might end up in relation to the wider conflict now well underway in the Middle East?

The hideous Syrian tragedy

Our armed forces have been deployed abroad opportunistically, even cynically, for decades. This must be avoided in future if they are to serve Australias true defence interests in future.

ANDREW FARRAN. The Tactical Strike Force fighter to stalk terrorists - really!

Why does the Prime Minister extoll our expensive F-35s as instruments for killing terrorists in irrelevant conflicts when their purpose is to protect the nation against threats of strategic dimensions were they to arise, not now but in the decades to come?

ANDREW FARRAN. Some good news on trade at last.

The WTOs long awaited multilateral Trade Facilitation Agreement has at last received the required number of ratifications and entered into force on 22nd February. It will expedite the movement and clearance of goods at the border and at airports, and significantly reduce time and costs for traders.

ANDREW FARRAN. To TPP or not to TPP? - Trade negotiators need to get back to first principles,

If the compounding mess of the global trading 'system' is to be overcome, trade negotiators need to get back to first principles.

ANDREW FARRAN. Molan v. Woolcott: The rough and the smooth in regional diplomacy

Molan writes that this sensitive touch in relations with Indonesia is reflected in a long tradition of Australian diplomats putting Indonesias interests and the views of Indonesians ahead of our own. Indeed he implies that but for geography Indonesia would be of little or no importance to us at all.

ANDREW FARRAN. New series. We can say 'no' to the Americans.

We should have a very clear and unromantic view of what we conceive to be the 'national interest'.

ANDREW FARRAN. ANZUS - Reality check coming soon! Quo vadis series.

Quo vadis - Australian foreign policy and ANZUS. Summary.We need diplomacy of the highest order, not military interventions which, as we have seen, generally make conflict situations worse.

ANDREW FARRAN. Under Trump - A moment of truth may be approaching

Indications are that a Trump Administration will expect Americas allies to pay their way to a greater extent than former President Nixons expectations were pursuant to the Guam Doctrine of 1969 mid-point in the Vietnam War. By and large it could be argued that Australia has paid its way - through Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq since that time. All defeats. Will the balance of wider interests be more or less benign in the coming years? The next year may see the return of nation states. Elections in 2017 may bring in a swag of far right governments in...

ANDREW FARRAN. The legal spat in Canberra - more serious than we may think.

Legal advice on a government decision to go to war. The legal spat between the Commonwealth Solicitor-General and the Attorney- General is potentially more serious than it might appear. It is not uncommon that certain actions or proposed actions by governments raise either constitutional or international legal issues of questionable validity. In this context the Governor-General, the Parliament, the bureaucracy, the military and others in the official sphere may seek assurance that what they or the country are being committed to do is legal. Should it not be legal there may be serious personal consequences for them.

ANDREW FARRAN. 'We must get out of Syria'

A comment in support of Richard Woolcotts blog: Australias Shambolic Policy on Syria Up Shiite Creek Without a Paddle. We must get out of Syria Richard Woolcott has stated with clear reasons why we should get out of the Middle East conflict which threatens to broaden and involve us in an expanded war that is not in our interests. One wonders how any times these points need to be made to the government before it acknowledges the folly of its situation in Iraq/Syria.

Defence & Australian Strategic Policy Institute - Joined at the Hip

Following on John Menadues recent item in which he dissected the funding of Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) and the pervasive influence of the Australia/US Defence and Intelligence Complex of which ASPI is a part, he questioned whether ASPI as a supposedly independent source of strategic advice could provide the advice necessary to get the balance right for Australia between the US and China. Andrew Farran argues that it is already too late because of the intertwining threads of our intelligence and military arrangements with the US, now inextricable. We have missed the opportunity to develop a force structure...

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